Arduboy – a hand-held game console that fits in your wallet

Hand-held game consoles have fallen somewhat out of fashion. They’re bulky, awkward to put in your pocket and from a computing standpoint, many of these games can be played on a smartphone you’re likely carrying around with you anyway.

But Kevin Bates’ Arduboy could change all that. Built on the open-source Arduino computer hardware, the Arduboy is a credit-card sized console that has the retro feel of a Game Boy. It has four direction controls, two action buttons and an OLED display.

Bates has launched a Kickstarter campaign and has already blown away the US$25,000 goal. (As I write this, Bates has raised more than $197,000.)

Part of this may be because of the low price of the device. While the early adopters’ pledge level of $29 is sold out, you can still buy an Arduboy for a pledge of only $39. (These are expected to ship in October.)

A library of games will be hosted on Arduboy Arcade that will all be free to play.

Of course, the specs on the device aren’t super-impressive. It runs on a ATmega32u4 processor, has 32 KB of Flash memory, 2.5 KB of RAM and 1 KB of EEPROM. But that should be more than enough to run 8-bit games. And its 180 thin-film lithium polymer rechargeable battery provides more than eight hours of life.

So what do you think? Is it time for hand-held gaming to make a comeback?

"Arduboy - a hand-held game console that fits in your wallet", out of 5 based on 2 ratings.

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